Bacha Khan mastermind arrested at Af-Pak border

A media report published in Pakistan said intelligence agencies arrested the terrorist in Nowshera last week

Peshwar: Pakistani authorities have arrested the main facilitator of the gruesome attack on Bacha Khan University while he was trying to slip across the border to Afghanistan, a media report said yesterday.

An army soldier searches a room covered in blood at Bacha Khan University hostel. FileE Pic

Waheed Ali alias Arshad, categorised as 'Terrorist A', was arrested in Nowshera last week by intelligence agencies, the report said. “He had shaved his beard and had packed up. His taxi was intercepted and he was picked up after positive identification,” sources said.

The alleged facilitator, in his early 30s, said in his initial statement that the planning of the attack was going on for six months in Achin district of Afghanistan, the base of militant commander Omar Mansoor. Mansoor, mastermind of the Peshawar school carnage and a commander of a faction of the Tehreek-e- Taliban Pakistan (TTP), had claimed responsibility for the January 20 assault on Bacha Khan University.

Waheed said Mansoor had provided him Rs 1 million to execute the plan. Waheed is also reported to have said that he secretly made videos of the Punjab Regiment Centre and a police station in Mardan as possible targets and took the footages in a memory chip to Mansoor, but the plans were dropped because of heavy security in the two places.